The present invention relates to a waist belt for supporting disposable-type absorbent articles, such as incontinence guards or diapers which comprise a front part, a rear part and an intermediate crotch part, wherein the belt can be fastened to the rear part of the article and when fastened to the rear part of the article comprises two front portions which project out laterally from mutually opposing side edges of the rear part of said article and which can be fastened together through the medium of mechanical fastener elements to form a waist band and which taper towards their respective ends over at least a substantial part of their lengths. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such a belt.
A waist belt of the type to which the invention refers is known from Applicant""s Swedish Application No. 9301631-9. The waist belt described in this publication is relatively expensive to produce, because the loop-bearing material intended for coaction with the hook-bearing means extends over the full extent of the outer surface of the belt, therewith resulting in high material costs.
The main object of the present invention is to reduce the cost of manufacturing a waist belt of this kind, so that a well-functioning disposable waist belt can be produced at a reasonable price.
EP-A2-0,528,282 teaches a diaper in which one end of the outer casing sheets is extended laterally to form extended flaps which by forming a waist band enable the diaper to be placed on a baby with the baby in a standing position. The flaps include mechanical fastener elements which can be fastened to one another and to the side-portions of opposing ends of the diaper. The extended flaps, however, do not support the opposing end of the diaper, which is fastened instead to the side-portions of that diaper end which includes the extended flaps, in a manner which makes it difficult for the baby to reach the fastener points. The problem which the present invention intends to solve is neither mentioned nor indicated in this publication.
This object is achieved in accordance with the present invention with a waist belt of the aforedefined kind which is characterized in that each of the front portions includes first fastener elements which are disposed on the outside of the belt, i.e. that side which faces outwardly in relation to the wearer""s body in use, and which extend at least over essentially the whole of the tapering portions of the front portions along the longitudinal symmetry lines thereof, and in that a second fastener element is provided on the inside of one of the front portions at the end part thereof and which can be fastened to the first fastener element on the other front portion along a plurality of mutually spaced points in the extension of the longitudinal symmetry line of said other front portion. Such a belt can be produced essentially with no waste, and by using separate first fastener elements and placing said elements along the longitudinal symmetry line of the waist belt, it is possible to use fastener elements of optimal width. Furthermore, the belt is easy to handle, by virtue of the fact that the second fastener element is placed at the end portion where the belt is narrowest. This greatly reduces the risk of the first and the second fastener elements being displaced relative to one another in the transverse direction when putting on the belt.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the first fastener elements are spaced from the longitudinal edges of the front portion along at least the greatest part of the length of said elements. The first fastener elements are rectangular in shape and have a width of between 20-150 mm, preferably between 30-50 mm. The first fastener elements are produced from a loop-bearing material and the second fastener elements from a hook-bearing material. The front portions are joined firmly to the side-portions of the rear part of an absorbent article and each include a rectangular part of uniform width which is attached to a side-portion of the rear part of an absorbent article, and a uniformly tapering part which projects out from the rectangular part on said front portion and has a greatest width which is smaller than the width of the rectangular part.
The invention also relates to a method of producing tapering waist-belt front portion with a starting point from a travelling web of material, characterized by placing elongated first fastener elements on and fastening said elements to the web in a mutually sequential row and at a given distance apart with the longitudinal axes of said elements extending perpendicularly to the direction of web travel; cutting the web in accordance with a cutting pattern which includes mutually opposing rows of short-side cuts along each alternate short side of the first fastener elements, said rows being displaced relative to one another in the direction of web travel so that the cuts relating to mutually adjacent first fastener elements will be located along mutually opposing short sides, cuts which extend perpendicularly to the direction of web travel and which extend from the centre of each short-side cut in a direction away from the fastener elements, and connecting cuts which connect the ends of said mutually opposing short-side cuts, wherein second fastener elements intended for coaction with the first fastener elements are fastened to the material web in a row on the side that is opposite to the first fastener elements and centrally opposite those end parts of the first fastener elements that face towards one of the rows of short-side cuts, either before or after attaching the first fastener elements. The method enables front portions intended for integration in the rear part of an incontinence guard or diaper to be produced with practically no waste.